Kerala entrepreneur Ambika Somasundaran exports her brand of drumstick-based products

Ambika Somasundaran from Thrissur finds international market for value-added products made from drumstick

A soup mix or rasam mix with moringa (drumstick) leaf powder in it? Or a payasam that has moringa flesh as one of the ingredients?

These are value-added products with moringa that entrepreneur Ambika Somasundaran manufactures at her unit, Kariat Dry Foods, at Marottichal in Puthur panchayat, Thrissur district. Now she is excited that some of these products have gone international.

“A trial batch of six products was sent to UAE recently, of which three are moringa products — rice powder, leaf powder and soup mix. Moringa millet mix and moringa capsules are included in the next batch,” says Ambika, who sells the products under the brand name, Dry Mix.

Kariat Dry Foods started operations in 2017 by manufacturing curry powders and flours used to prepare breakfast dishes. In 2021, Ambika launched moringa-based products. “Export has been my aim ever since I started my company and so this is a dream come true,” says the 53-year-old.

Ambika turned entrepreneur after resigning from ESAF Small Finance Bank where she had worked for 17 years. “As I wanted to do something on my own, I focussed on value-added products from local produce. I also wanted to ensure livelihood for needy women in my neighbourhood,” she recalls.

That’s how Kariat was born. When she was planning to make something different from other players in the field, Ambika received an order for moringa leaf powder. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have the required quantity of leaves then. Nevertheless, that set me thinking about moringa products and I started moringa cultivation in our panchayat,” she says.

Ambika put across the idea to Minister for Revenue K Rajan when he came to purchase flour from her unit. He encouraged her to begin moringa cultivation in his constituency, Ollur. With the support of Ollur Krishi Samridhi (OKS), a Farmer Producer Organisation, 10,000 saplings procured from Kerala Agricultural University, were distributed in Nadathara, Puthur, Panachery and Madakkathara panchayats in the constituency. KAU officials trained Kudumbashree workers from these panchayats. “In the meantime, I started collecting moringa leaves from people in the neighbourhood, paying ₹30 per kilogram,” she says.